Olympus SP-800UZ Samples

The crops below show the performance of the Olympus SP-800UZ next to the same ISO for the Fujifilm Finepix S100FS
Fujifilm Finepix S100FS which is the current champion among ultra-zoom cameras with a 11 megapixels sensor and a mechanically-lined 14X optical zoom lens with stabilization, equivalent to 28-400mm.

All crops below are 100% from their respective camera taken at the highest image quality setting available. ISO was set on camera, all other settings were left at their default values. These crops help determine which ISO settings can be acceptably used on these cameras. As noise increases, most cameras compensate with noise reduction which introduces softness. The point at which a print become unacceptably noisy is a matter of personal taste.

Olympus SP-800UZ	Fuji Finepix S100FS
ISO 50
ISO 100	ISO 100
ISO 200	ISO 200
ISO 400	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 800
ISO 1600	ISO 1600

There should be little doubt that the Fuji S100FS is significantly ahead of the Olympus SP-800UZ with an easy 3 stop lead in terms of image quality. It is also more consistant in terms of exposure and color. Since there are no manual controls or custom white-balance features on the Olympus, little can be done to improve the situation. Anything above ISO 400 should be used for emergencies only on the SP-800UZ.